Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings that dropped the Leafs’ record to 4-4-1.
On his impressions of the game:
It was a pretty close game at five-on-five. Special teams were obviously the difference.
On the confidence level of the team amid this three-game losing streak and 4-4-1 start to the season:
We don’t lack confidence as a team. We just have to execute.
On the team’s lack of 5v5 offense again in this game:
You have to give some credit to the opposition, first of all. For the most part, we are getting the other team’s better version of themselves. LA is coming off of a tough loss. You knew they were going to be dialed in defensively after giving up six the night before.
They made it hard for us to get off the wall. I thought we spent too much time on the boards. Yet, at five-on-five, it is a pretty even hockey game. The difference is special teams, and we gave them some gifts for goals that they didn’t necessarily give us. That is really the difference.
On keeping the players’ spirits up after “gifting” the other team a goal:
You talk about the fact that the game is filled with all sorts of plays and all sorts of things that are happening all the time. You never know when your moment is the moment that makes a difference either way — positively or negatively. You just try to encourage and push your team to be really good in each moment. You never know when that moment or mistake is the one that makes the difference.
That is where we have to get better. While you are trying to find yourself as a team, you can’t shoot yourself in the foot. I thought we did that here today on at least two of the goals if not three of the goals. We just have to do a better job.
On whether the opposition is picking apart some of the team’s tendencies on offense:
I don’t think so. I mean, they know who our best people are. They know we had the number-one power play in the NHL last season. All of these things get your attention. All of that is going to happen.
Our guys are used to playing through that. It is no excuse. It is not a reason why we should be going through what we are going through here. We have to find a way through it.
On Filip Král’s NHL debut performance:
I thought he did a good job. Our defense took a couple of penalties, so we had to use him on the penalty kill. That is a tall order for a guy in his first game. I thought he did well.
I thought he moved some pucks well and shot a couple of pucks for us. He got it to the net and got us off of the wall a couple of times in the offensive zone.
All in all, it is a good performance by him.
On whether he is considering going back to Ilya Samsonov in goal tomorrow in the back-to-back:
No.
